Equality of access to health care for adults with learning disability has been in the spotlight in the UK in recent years due to publication of several reports. Adults with learning disability are thought to account for a significant proportion of the diabetic population in the UK. A list of adults known to the learning disability health…

Changes in the living circumstances of people with learning disabilities have seen responsibility for their health become the provenance of paid-and family-carers. Thirteen semi-structured interviews were conducted with three family-carers and ten paid-carers. Findings revealed that the role of these carers was undefined, leading to difficulty in…

It has been well documented that people with learning disabilities receive poor care in acute settings. Over the last few years, a number of learning disability liaison nurse services have developed in the United Kingdom as a response to this, but there has been a failure to systematically gather evidence as to their effectiveness. This article…

People with learning disabilities have higher levels of health needs compared with the general population (Nocon, 2006, Background evidence for the DRC's formal investigation into health inequalities experienced by people with learning disabilities or mental health problems. London and Manchester, Disability Rights Commission). Research has shown…

Annual health checks for people with learning disabilities are a concept that was introduced by the Government in 2001 as a catalyst to improve access to health services and identify health needs that have previously gone undetected. Nonetheless, to date, there has been little evidence of the effectiveness of these health checks. This study seeks…

People with an intellectual disability are living longer, and the numbers continue to rise. Ireland has and is seeing a dramatic change in the age pro?le of clients and the support services they require. While Ireland had speci?cally trained nurses in intellectual disability, they predominately work in residential settings. This can be seen as…

This paper describes the current challenges facing nurses and other professionals who care for people with profound and multiple intellectual disabilities. This particularly vulnerable group of service users often rely on a repertoire of non-verbal behaviours to communicate their needs and wishes. These challenges include the requirements of…

This is about research an Oxfordshire Self-Advocacy Organisation did into annual health checks for people with learning disabilities. The self-advocates worked with Oxfordshire's Primary Care Health Facilitator and a Professor to find out why only one in four people in our area had a health check in 2009/10 (Emerson & Glover 2010a,b). The article…

The literature agrees that an increasing number of people who have a learning disability have children. This group of parents are expected to fit into existing health services and are disadvantaged when presented with complex information regarding pregnancy and birth. There is a dearth of information in relation to accessible information on…

It is being increasingly recognised that the achievement of improved health outcomes for people with learning disabilities is central to the role of learning disability nurses. This is in recognition of the fact that an increasing body of evidence has demonstrated that these people often have poorer health outcomes than those in the mainstream…

Following Beacroft & Dodd's (2009) audit of pain recognition and management within learning disability services in Surrey, it was recommended that learning disability services should receive training in pain recognition and management. Two hundred and seventy-five services were invited to participate, of which 197 services in Surrey accepted and…

Two-thirds of the people registered on the Irish National Intellectual Disability Database (NIDD) reside at home with family members frequently supporting them (Kelly et al., "National Intellectual Disability Database Committee Annual Report 2006," Health Research, 2007). Use of respite care services by parents with a child/adult with an…

There is a pressing need for the development of programs for the early identification and treatment of depression in individuals with mild intellectual disability. The aim of this study was to ascertain the perspective of 64 key stakeholders (people with intellectual disability, healthcare professionals, family/caregivers & support workers)…

Reducing health inequalities is a key priority for the Scottish Government. Health authorities are expected to meet quality targets. The involvement of people with learning disabilities in health service review teams has been one of the initiatives used in by National Health Service Quality Improvement Scotland to empower patients and improve…

The commissioning and provision of mental health services for people with intellectual disability is often complex and characterised by different service delivery models. This paper looks at the current situation 7 years after the White Paper, Valuing People (From words into action: London learning disabilities strategic framework, Department of…